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Requiring login to view website


Wintertime

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Sorry if this has been discussed before; I searched for a few keyword phrases and didn't find any relevant threads.

Although I'm not active in geocaching myself these days, I sometimes recommend it (enthusiastically!) to other people, such as a homeschool parent I was talking with recently. But when I happened to go to the Geocaching.com site today, I noticed that it's no longer possible to do anything except watch an introductory video unless you have an account on the site. You can find a few other things through the Help Center link, but it's a hassle and doesn't get you very much anyway. For example, there's a link from the Start Here help page to the cache search page, but then you need to log in to actually run a search. You used to at least be able to see where there were caches in your area.

I realize that accounts on Geocaching.com are free, but I don't want to direct people to a website that they can't even browse without setting up an account. That seems almost spammy to me; Groundspeak wants your contact information before you've had a chance to see what they offer and decide whether you're interested in it.

I don't know whether the Groundspeak folks even monitor this forum, but I thought I'd post here anyway. I think that requiring a login to view the site is a bad marketing decision, but I guess they've decided that it works well for their goals. :huh:

 

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Groundspeak requires people to get a membership, which includes agreeing to the terms of geocaching, prior to allowing them, access to the information on the site.  I have no issue with that.

If you feel comfortable giving people unfettered access to geocaches without having them agree to abide by the rules, then print out your own cache pages and hand them out.  I'd prefer they not have access to my geocaches until some base level of accountability is established.

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19 minutes ago, hzoi said:

Groundspeak requires people to get a membership, which includes agreeing to the terms of geocaching, prior to allowing them, access to the information on the site. 

In the early days a visitor to the site could enter their postcode into a search box and it would pull up a list of caches close to that location, it didn't give their co-ords and IIRC only gave an approximate distance from the search area, I think you could also read the basic cache description; it then invited you to sign up in order to see the details.

 

I'm not sure when that changed but it was certainly like that when I signed up and it pulled me in when I first did a search and I think it was a good feature as the OP suggests.

 

 

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I'm, along the same idea as hzoi I guess.  The site already has a free, basic membership.  That free membership may at least have some info in case there's issues later.  Those who experienced issues with the "Intro" weekend-n-done muggle app kids remember they had no email, invalidated, and "never" as the last visit to the site.  Basic membership still isn't having skin in the hobby, but it's a start...

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21 hours ago, Wintertime said:

Sorry if this has been discussed before; I searched for a few keyword phrases and didn't find any relevant threads.

Although I'm not active in geocaching myself these days, I sometimes recommend it (enthusiastically!) to other people, such as a homeschool parent I was talking with recently. But when I happened to go to the Geocaching.com site today, I noticed that it's no longer possible to do anything except watch an introductory video unless you have an account on the site. You can find a few other things through the Help Center link, but it's a hassle and doesn't get you very much anyway. For example, there's a link from the Start Here help page to the cache search page, but then you need to log in to actually run a search. You used to at least be able to see where there were caches in your area.

I realize that accounts on Geocaching.com are free, but I don't want to direct people to a website that they can't even browse without setting up an account. That seems almost spammy to me; Groundspeak wants your contact information before you've had a chance to see what they offer and decide whether you're interested in it.

I don't know whether the Groundspeak folks even monitor this forum, but I thought I'd post here anyway. I think that requiring a login to view the site is a bad marketing decision, but I guess they've decided that it works well for their goals. :huh:

 

Yes, generally the Website portion of the Forum is where HQ will monitory threads and respond when appropriate.  I kind of doubt they will respond to your query, other than to maybe thank you for your input.

Kind of strange that you would recommend a website, thinking that it has unfettered access, to people working with kids (i.e. homeschooling, etc.) .  When I was volunteering for my son's school, I remember going through the required background checks and fingerprinting.  I would think that a homeschooling parent would appreciate the fact that there is a modest amount of security on the site, and that the Admins take an active role in keeping the content, conversations, and the general environment, safe for everyone involved.  I know I do.

If memory serves me correctly, the changes that seem the most annoying to you, are ones that were instituted as a result of attacks on the site.  The ones I remember involved bots that would log hundreds/thousands of fictitious Finds on Listing pages.  The lockdown of the content may have come as a result of an overall determination that more security was needed to thwart such exploits.

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Hi, everyone. In no way was I suggesting "unfettered access" to the site! Certainly an unregistered user wouldn't be able to log finds, maybe not even to do their own searches. As MartyBartfast noted, I was referring to being able to view a simple, automatically generated (from an estimated IP address location) map of nearby caches and read a little bit about them. And primarily, for the home page to point towards more introductory material than is in that 75-second video, without newcomers having to hunt for the tiny "Help Center" link at the bottom of the page.

 

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29 minutes ago, Wintertime said:

And primarily, for the home page to point towards more introductory material than is in that 75-second video, without newcomers having to hunt for the tiny "Help Center" link at the bottom of the page.

Certainly, a more prominent link to the Help Center would be good, as well as a link to the Geocaching 101 page.

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28 minutes ago, Wintertime said:

Thanks for finding that page, Darin. Yes, a prominent pointer to that part of the site would be a good idea. It has helpful text information plus a number of videos.

There used to be a prominent link to the Geocaching 101 page as part of the menu bar across the top of every page on the site. I'm not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to remove that link.

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1 hour ago, niraD said:

There used to be a prominent link to the Geocaching 101 page as part of the menu bar across the top of every page on the site. I'm not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to remove that link.

In August   This Release Note  was on "Header updates", and one of the improvements was "The “Learn” drop-down was removed".

 - Seemed more were bothered by the color than removing important  and handy (to many) information...

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